Saudade: News from and for the Brazilian community/Notícias de e para a comunidade brasileira

This image is being widely circulated amongst Brazilian citizens opposing Jair Bolsonaro. It means that we will stand up for all of those whose voices are not as loud and powerful, we will be forever holding their hands -iIllustration by zangadas_tatu.

A tradução deste artigo se encontra no final da versão em inglês

Fair warning, this column is utterly personal, and many Brazilian Islanders would not agree with me, and that is OK. We still belong to a democracy, and although I am not optimistic, I believe in checks and balances, and I hope that the candidate that the Brazilian people chose governs for all and brings Brazil to become the kind of country where people don’t feel the desire to abandon it and can thrive emotionally and financially. I hope that the U.S. and Portugal, among other countries chosen by Brazilians to start a new life, start to be the countries in which Brazilian citizens go to study, to visit, and not to start new lives.

When speculations about a possible candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro began to emerge, many people thought he had no chance at all. Does this sound familiar? Many people thought that as soon as people started digging up videos of him commenting on controversial issues, that a potential run for president would inevitably end.

When the name of Jair Bolsonaro was announced as one of the candidates, people began to bring these videos to light. Unlike many people thought, the videos did not change people’s opinions. Realizing that Jair Bolsonaro is sexist, homophobic, and possesses such opinions as well as made problematic speeches made no difference. Either this was something that resonated with people, or they chose to ignore such facts for what they thought made him an ideal candidate, and that he is not corrupt. Even when information began to emerge proving that he is not a politician who always has the good of the people in mind, or of all Brazilian citizens, without distinction of race, creed, or sexual preference, and is in politics for almost 30 years and never did anything for the Brazilian people, or that he had employed someone he should not have — practicing nepotism — or that he had used public money for personal purposes, among other facts, people once again chose to pretend that there was nothing wrong since this is not really corruption.

Even as we approached the date on which the election would be decided, and Jair Bolsonaro and the former general whom he chose to be his vice president made comments considered unnecessary and cruel as well as alarming to democracy, people continued to ignore such facts. When it was discovered that his entire campaign was based on fake news, which was sponsored by big corporations that spent $12 million reais (Brazil’s currency) for the distribution of such fake news on Whatsapp, which is the app most used for communication among Brazilian citizens, people continued to ignore such facts. Even though it was millions used to spread lies, there were still justifications.

Jair Bolsonaro did not want to participate in debates; for the first time in the history of Brazil’s politics, one of the candidates for the presidency refused to engage in a political discussion — a lack of respect for the voters. People need to hear what candidates for any political office have to say, question the candidate about their positions on what the voters consider essential. Yes, Jair Bolsonaro’s excuse was that he could not participate because of medical orders, as during the campaign, Jair Bolsonaro suffered an attack on his life. However, even after being released by his doctors, he continued to refuse to debate, or maintained that he would only debate without being televised, and only with his opponent. Without the opportunity for a presidential debate, voters only have access to the material that the candidate makes available – Nothing is spontaneous or live, and voters cannot see how the candidate would react to questions that were controversial. Even when Brazilian broadcasters contacted Jair Bolsonaro’s team to do interviews, he declined. Jair Bolsonaro only granted interviews to those who supported him and went so far as to say that those who did not support him were wrong, that all that was against him was fake news, that comments made throughout his career in interviews had been taken out of context. Comments such as: “I would be unable to love a homosexual child,” which he said in an interview with Época magazine in 2011; “I would rather have a child of mine die in an accident than show up with another man,” in an interview with Playboy magazine in December 2011; “Women must earn a lower wage because they get pregnant. When she returns [from maternity leave], she will have another month’s vacation, meaning she worked five months out of the year,” in an interview with Zero Hora newspaper in February 2015; “The mistake of the dictatorship was to torture and not kill,” in a radio participation for the Brazilian radio station Jovem Pan in July 2016. These comments are recorded in videos and audios. They are not fake news.

When the voters who supported him said he would be a good president, or that what he said was only for show, the question was always, “What kind of Brazil will he be the president for? For what kind of Brazilian citizens?”

Brazilian citizens, regardless of where they lived in the world and who chose the candidate Fernando Haddad, did not choose him because they would accept any kind of government, they chose Haddad because they knew they could oppose his government because democratic leaders allow criticism. When it comes to politics, voters should not just vote and hope for the best, and as conscious voters who recognize the power and value of their votes, voters must continue to demand that the candidates work for the people and deliver on their promises.

However, what is vital is that such voters continue to have the right to protest and not have their lives threatened by opposing opinions. It was alarming to hear Jair Bolsonaro put the Brazilian democracy, which is already so fragile, in question when he said that if people did not agree with his government, either they would have to adjust or leave Brazil. When there is an election, there is an expectation that voters will vote for the person who is better prepared for the position, especially when it is the presidency. Many newspapers and magazines from around the world that are highly regarded have written about the threat that Jair Bolsonaro poses to Brazilian democracy, including the Brazilian media. Was all of this not a sign that there was a reason for concern?

On Sunday morning, I, Marta Camargo from Family Planning, her sister Laura Weisman, who works as an interpreter for the Tisbury School, and one of my former students, Bhrenda Galdino, whose voter registration was obtained last year through the collaboration between the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and the Brazilian Consulate of Boston, got on the first ferry to Boston to vote for the second and last time in the 2018 Brazilian elections. On the way to Boston, Marta and Laura talked about their experiences with Brazil’s dictatorship, militarism, and how their lives were when Brazil became a democracy in 1985. They pondered how Brazil’s democracy remains in a fragile state.

It was such a great experience to be able to vote for my country, even though I am away from home, and to experience democracy at a time when there is a polarization trend across the globe. My responsibility with Brazil doesn’t end because I have chosen to create a life in the U.S. — quite the contrary. I was born into a dictatorship and lived the consequences of it, the inflation, the lack of a stable currency, an impeachment on the first president voted by Brazilian citizens after the dictatorship era (1964-1985), the constant corruption. In essence, the influx of Brazilian immigrants into the U.S. began in the late 1980s when Brazil promulgated its constitution and started the rebuilding process.

On Sunday night, when it became known to the world who the next president for Brazil would be, I started to read what was being written and said in the international media, and reached out to friends who might feel their existence threatened, the Afro-descendants, the LGBTQA+ community, my female friends, as well as friends and family members who voted for Bolsonaro. They shared the videos of the commemorations happening around them, they shared the commemoration of Bolsonaro’s victory in Brazil, in different states, through their eyes. There was much joy, and I cannot deny it. The mood was festive. However, it’s a good picture of what we’re going through. In the midst of the party full of families, death passed as a celebrity. Between Brazilian flags and soccer T-shirts from previous World Cups, shirts with the name of the candidate accompanied by rifles, ammunition, and skulls. Mothers with babies on their lap, children and parents pretending guns in their hands. Strangers pretending to exchange gunshots with each other, with a smile on their faces. What I heard on some Facebook Lives were songs saying that certain types of women have to eat dog food in the bowl and that others do not even know how to wash a pot. This kind of music was coming from cars with several women inside.

I defend everything that the newly elected candidate for the presidency of Brazil attacks. I want to belong and live in a country that governs for all equally — the natives, women, blacks, the LGBTQA+ community. A country where there is no room for torture, dictatorship, homophobia, racism, and xenophobia. I didn’t vote for an oppressor, I voted for a professor who, like me, believes that education is always the answer.

These elections taught me a lot. I learned to dialogue, to argue, to turn votes, and mainly, I learned that politics and moral values go together more than I imagined. We are 45 million Brazilians who didn’t vote for Bolsonaro. We are many, and will always be resistance against hatred and prejudice, and for the separation of church and state. We will continue to defend love, democracy, freedom, and opposition. What a pride to be on this side of history. Our resistance is just beginning.